Massive Wii U Launch Game Roundup

Wii U Console (Courtesy Nintendo)

While I certainly can’t say I’ve played every Wii U launch title I will confess to indulging in far more than my fair share, and while the system is easily geared toward all-ages gameplay I further admit that I continue to be pleasantly surprised by its more intense offerings. From picture perfect platforming to rhythm and music to straight-up shootin’ stuff, the Wii U has a lot to offer.

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Yet not all games are created equal. With that in mind allow me to explore 20 disparate releases currently available for your gaming pleasure. In the name of consistency I’ve grouped them into five subcategories, but as you’ll quickly see several seemingly go out of the way to defy classification.

Family Fun

One of the primary knocks againstNintendo Land, the showcase title packed in with Deluxe Wii U systems, is that it’s not Wii Sports, and while that may be true it does at least manage to channel some of the same simplistic, addictive fun of its most hallowed, ancient ancestor. The problem, of course, is that it does so within the confines of the dreaded mini-game collection. Its principle conceit involves encapsulating a dozen different Nintendo franchise-themed worlds within a virtual amusement park, the central hub of which is manned by your robotic tour guide Monita. This talking touchscreen gives you ample – some would say too much – information about the Nintendo Land Plaza, its various attractions and how to navigate it.

The mini-games themselves offer an interesting mix of single- and multiplayer experiences that can find you dancing with the Game & Watch octopus, fighting with Wii-mote armed friends through the Zelda-themed Battle Quest or stealing candy from GamePad-controlled guards in Animal Crossing: Sweet Day. The title’s extensive Mii support proves a double-edged sword as the simple hide-and-seek formula of Luigi’s Ghost Mansion (wherein the GamePad player controls a ghost while everyone else is a flashlight-wielding Wii Remote warrior) feels wonderfully organic, while more core gamer-centered fare like Metroid Blast seems distinctly non-canonical despite its engaging running and gunning. Still, Nintendo Land hits more than it misses, with even the solo play of Yoshi’s Fruit Cart, which challenges players to direct their avatar around on-screen obstacles to collect fruit by drawing a path on the simplified GamePad screen, and the rudimentary swipe-controlled flight of Balloon Trip Breeze easily making up for stinkers like the glorified shuriken-slinging tech demo that is Takamaru’s Ninja Castle.

Rabbids Land, on the other hand, plays more like a lesson in how not to compile such a next generation mini-game fest. Its intentions are obviously pure, and there’s enough of that Mario Party mini-games-inside-a-board-game appeal to at least draw my family in initially; there just wasn’t enough to keep us there for more than a few cursory matches. Rabbids has everything it needs on paper – the definitive dice roll mechanic, a mad dash for points (represented by trophies), mini-game challenges that range from pointless trivia to motion control madness and theme spaces that both giveth and taketh away from your score – but uneven design often makes it all too easy to spend an entire game mired in its lackluster content. Rabbids Land looks and sounds great, and customizing your Rabbid alone (by viciously dipping him in paint) is sure to provide your kids with a few minutes of blissful fun, but overall the game simply falls short.

One of my own biggest Wii U surprises was easily Scribblenauts Unlimited. With well-received iterations of the series on DS and iOS, it’s likely that most everyone has experienced the wordy world of Maxwell in some form, but it has never felt more alive and engaging. Adding to the already inspired core gameplay of solving puzzles with only your imagination and vocabulary, Scribblenauts Unlimited injects a backstory, an actual plot and some characterization into the plight of our protagonist. Maxwell’s rooster-hatted family – apparently that’s genetic – plays a major part as you attempt to save your sister Lily from a hex that Max himself unintentionally caused. This gives the collecting of Starites, another series standard, an actual purpose, and further breathes new life into a more vibrant game environment. The GamePad interface makes typing solutions for the always bizarre problems of the citizens in this ever-widening world a breeze, and improved game mechanics makes attaching things, be they adjectives or items, to your creations easier than ever.

Much like this latest Scribblenauts title, New Super Mario Bros. U is the biggest, boldest, most refined take on the side-scroller we’ve seen to date. Like every chapter in the New Super Mario saga, it doesn’t redefine so much as it tweaks the old recipe, and it certainly does so for the better. Previous players of any 2D Mario title will have no trouble picking up the straightforward control scheme (though those already familiar with the remote-shaking of the previous Wii title will have an early advantage), but those well versed in its princess-saving lore will also likely find few surprises. Aside from the ability to supplement its manic four-man multiplayer madness with a fifth adding helpful temporary blocks to the level using the GamePad’s touch interface, NSMBU‘s two big additions come in the form of the Flying Squirrel suit and a trio of baby Yoshis that when picked up provide additional attack options or player buffs. A beautifully expansive game map, limited Mii support, Boost and Challenge modes also serve to make this debut HD entry into the Mario series a true must-have, and an overall exemplary level of polish makes it a joy to play with the kids or all alone. And, yes, its amazing, frenetic level design holds up equally well in GamePad-only play.

Recent GeekDad community favorite and the very definition of hardcore-game-for-a-casual-audience Skylanders Giants has also made its way to Nintendo’s newest console, and while the cartoon-y visuals and toy-connected gameplay arrived unaltered this version does include a unique twist. Sure, you can play the entire game on the GamePad alone, but it’s the supplementary info this second screen displays during standard play that really makes the difference. Toss a Skylander on the Portal and his stats will display on the GamePad, a small but interesting tweak that allows savvy gamers to more effectively manage their characters’ development and choice of helpful headgear. A secondary view also lists level objectives, yet another handy use of the hardware. Still, I can’t help but be a little disappointed that Activision didn’t or simply couldn’t leverage the controller’s own integrated NFC capabilities to simply do away with the need for the Portal of Power. But theoretical nitpicks aside the game plays incredibly well on the system, with only the occasional graphical hiccup (read: graininess) or pesky camera angle detracting from the experience.

Surely the black sheep of the lineup is Namco’s Tank! Tank! Tank! While most other games have at least tried to push the visual envelope of the Wii U’s new high-def graphical approach, Tank! Tank! Tank! instead seems content to keep things super simple. These minimalist visuals are paired with the very simplest of plots. A mission opens with the player or players being informed that giant monsters are attacking the city. You then proceed to shoot things with your tank. More vehicles become available as you progress through this linear shoot-’em-up, and the overarching theme of simplification continues in that these generally just exchange speed and maneuverability for sheer firepower or vice versa. Destroying the monster centipedes/cyber-gorillas/multi-headed dragons results in special weapons drops that offer supplementary attacks best reserved for the biggest of the baddies, but the unlimited ammo of your primary weapon means you’ll likely find yourself firing constantly whether there’s an enemy in your sights or not. Tank! Tank! Tank! makes a token effort to take advantage of the Wii U hardware by allowing you to snap a picture of yourself using the GamePad camera, but while a photo-realistic image sporting a crudely drawn helmet has a certain charm it, like the rest of the game, lacks real depth. Still, all these complaints aside Tank! Tank! Tank!’s no-frills single- and multiplayer manages to come off like the bad b-movie of Wii U games, and there is something to be said for enjoying the cheesiness. Part of me loves its unabashed silliness, but none of me can recommend it for anything short of a bargain price.

The Bottom LineScribblenauts‘ refined gameplay and robust GamePad support – yeah, you won’t even need that television – makes it perfectly suited to the hardware. Sure, NSMBU and Nintendo Landhave gotten the spotlight (and deservedly so as they are stellar first-party products), but odds are Wii U owners already have one if not both of these titles. Therefore, if you’re looking to supplement the system’s family gaming angle in a meaningful way Scribblenauts Unlimited is the way to go.

Next up: “hardcore” and sports titles.

Grown-Up Gamer Action

My original reaction to Batman Arkham City: Armored Edition at Nintendo’s Atlanta Wii U Experience event was less-than-enthused. The final product, however, saw me actually returning to a game I never bothered to finish during its previous release. This is due in no small part to the excellent GamePad integration — not only does it control wonderfully, but the game looks phenomenal on this second screen. Sadly neither the touchscreen inventory selection nor B.A.T. combat-boost system feel particularly groundbreaking, and directly controlling the Batarang itself via the GamePad is clunky. The bonus content (Harley Quinn’s Revenge and more challenge rooms) makes what could’ve been a shameless port at least seem like a game-of-the-year-style expanded edition, and investigating the game’s gorgeous environments via the second screen really makes it feel like a different experience.

While this new take on Arkham City largely expands on what made that game so satisfying to begin with, the port of Ninja Gaiden 3 — subtitled Razor’s Edge on the Wii U — seems to instead correct many of the failings of the original. I ignored the PS3/360 edition from earlier this year because of complaints about too many quicktime events, limited weapon options and rote repetition replacing the slick and demanding combat that the series is known for. To my great relief, however, Razor’s Edge is a vibrant, violent affair that poses and genuine challenge with ample attacks at your ready disposal. Aside from some camera issues I really can’t say anything overly critical about the game, and any edge you may gain from its solid support of the Pro Controller is wisely bartered for the quick access to weapons and magic afforded by the GamePad.

As far as ports of more “hardcore” titles go, many have likely already done their time with Batman and Ryu. Assassin’s Creed III, on the other hand, provides Wii U owners the chance to take a crack at a distinctly newer property. GamePad-only mode again offers a solid secondary offering for continued play, while the controller itself serves as a nice solution to navigating the massive in-game world on your television. Assassin’s Creed III pairs tons of content within its interesting story with the sort of fluidity of movement that fans have come to expect from the franchise, but overall it likely takes too many drastic turns for its own good. On land, sea and air rooftops, ACIII looks and plays well on the Wii U, and it’s fun to get lost in the grand historical conspiracy theory that is the series’ final arc, but, as with the game mentioned above, it might not be worth your time to retread the title if you’ve already experienced it on another console.

That’s not an issue with ZombiU, as it’s a Wii U exclusive. Life in its zombie-infested London is, perhaps unsurprisingly, short, brutal and fraught with hardships, and permanent character death is practically guaranteed. In a nod to the zombie fiction trope of the enduring survivor, however, the game always finds a new character to step up when the previous protagonist falls. Ubisoft wisely provided a constant voice, the game’s omnipresent “Prepper” to guide these player characters through the game’s many missions, and amid a backdrop of apocalyptic biblical prophecy he urges you from the game’s safehouse-style central hub to hack the city’s ample security cameras and its transformed citizens. (Gruesome wordplay!) Looting these bodies as well as those of your own fallen comrades gives the game a dire weight, and the constant threat of attack from zombie hordes is palpable. The GamePad serves as a catch-all, from navigating and managing inventory via the touchscreen to cracking undead skulls Shaun of the Dead-style with a cricket bat using the trigger buttons, but it excels as a multipurpose scanner that can catalog and mark loot, ping hostiles and tie together closed-circuit cameras to extend the Prepper’s eyes. ZombiU is many things – it’s tense and frantic and difficult – but it is far from perfect. Walking tank controls aren’t Resident Evil bad, but character movement is rough and deliberate when compared to that of the enemies. Visually it conveys this ravaged world with just enough realism, but even things as simple as load screens look far from next-gen.

The Bottom Line
How much you enjoy the Wii U’s hardcore fare very likely depends on how many of its action game ports you’ve already experienced. All three are far more than passable versions of the originals, but only ZombiU, despite its flaws, provides a genuinely new experience.

Sports and Fitness

I am not a footballer, so I rather doubted FIFA Soccer 13 on the Wii U would offer anything of substance for me as a player, but a scalable control scheme – from the robust classic to the super-dumbed-down 2-button option – and interesting use of the GamePad touchscreen really manage to broaden its appeal. From aiming shots and team management using this second screen to continuing play sans television, the title definitely offers an interesting experience for soccer fans that leverages the hardware in novel ways. Sadly, while the game tries to be innovative, basics like touchscreen response and collision detection seem to suffer as a result. In the end it’s not a bad title, especially for true fans looking to hit the pitch on their new console, but it is lacking in overall polish.

ESPN Sports Connection similarly goes out of its way to take advantage of all the Wii U has to offer, and it also wavers as a result. Walking some strange line between Wii Sports gameplay and Kinect Sports visuals, its most impressive feat is that it fails to impress. Controlling a kart racer with the GamePad gyroscope is interesting enough, but like the rest of the game it’s far from inspired. Requisite game types like golf and tennis modes are included, but it’s easily the baseball and football elements that are the most problematic. Switching between the GamePad – used to draw your pitches or choose your defensive strategies – and the Wii Remote – for batting or passing – will likely eventually prove the system norm, but on the single-player side it often seemed more trouble than it was worth. It’s not as if Sports Connection is a bad presentation of casual sports, but it simply lacks that must-play element present in other launch titles. Ubisoft went out of its way to support the system launch, but Sports Connection, while a notable effort, somehow fails to stack up.

I hesitate to even include Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013 alongside these other titles, but it fits at least in theory. Not a sports game so much as a digital trainer, it’s one of a long line of self-help semi-games that have come to the market in recent years. Like any fitness title, this one lives and dies by its variety and real-world usefulness, and while it excels at the former the latter is sometimes lacking. From yoga to krumping to cardio, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved lets you choose from a wealth of exercise option or will help tailor a program to your needs, and its gamified system means that successful completion of these activities can yield coins used to unlock even more options. All the while the GamePad is there to help you navigate the spider web of menu options, count reps and chose recipes to extend the promise of healthy living. Where it runs into trouble is in the area of performance scoring. As usual, the Wii-mote is a fickle mistress, and trying to mime your way through routines while still keeping an eye on your on-screen instructor makes for mediocre implementation at best. I can’t help but think that integrating Balance Board support would’ve made for a more functional interface. Not to mention one that makes it more difficult to lie about your weight.

The Bottom Line
Overall the category is pretty slim, and while Your Shape bombards you with interesting content FIFAis likely the best option for the sports gamer.

Next up: music games and downloadable titles.

Music Games

After the implosion of the Guitar Hero/Rock Band mega-franchises, the world of music games has endured by virtue to two old standbys: dance and karaoke titles. The Wii U, as it happens, launched with a solid enough offering in each camp. Just Dance 4is… well, Just Dance. The series is crazy-popular, and this entry will follow suit for fans of pop music and virtual booty-shaking. Like Nintendo’s previous entries you’ll use the Wii Remote to score your gesticulations as you follow the choreographed moves of the on-screen dancers. Accuracy is awarded with additional content, but, just as with Your Shape, it’s easy enough to fake your way through the routines with calculated Wii-mote waggling. The GamePad, consequently, is relegated to second banana status; you can play with the visuals, cue up the next song and eventually torture you fellow players by controlling movements via the much talked-about Puppet Master Mode. The game looks, sounds and plays exactly like you’d expect, which I reckon means true innovation is its only failing.

Sing Party likewise tends to skirt the edges rather than push the envelope, but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming a favorite in my household. Tethered by a USB mic to the Wii U, players can either challenge selections from its well-rounded songbook for accuracy or instead attempt to pump up the living room crowd in its more free-form Party Mode. During standard gameplay the GamePad itself mostly just allows you and your fellow singers to plan a set list, follow track length or adjust music volume, but in Party Mode it displays both the lyrics and instructions to help vocalists hype the room.

The Bottom Line
Though a wired mic and only occasionally helpful secondary handheld lyric sheet may seem distinctly underwhelming, I cannot overstate how much we have enjoyed Sing Party. Being able to segue from The Darkness to The Jackson Five to Bieber to Huey Lewis has managed to make for many a memorable evening of family gaming.

Downloadables

With the 3DS eShop only now coming into its own with truly engaging content, I really didn’t expect much from the Wii U downloadable catalog at launch aside from digital versions of its retail releases. I instead discovered a number of interesting games that quickly challenged that preconception. Broken Rules’ Chasing Aurora, for example, is a meditative bird-based 2D racer with a definite multiplayer slant. Navigating its maps by a combination of wing-flaps and strategically-placed air currents requires a definite, deliberate rhythm that’s uniquely satisfying but perhaps lacks mass appeal. Sadly its $15 price tag doesn’t exactly help matters.

Weighing in at a scant five dollars more is a more expansive version of critical darling Trine 2 dubbed Trine 2: Director’s Cut. This gorgeous Lost Vikings-style puzzle-platformer arrives on the Wii U with both its Goblin Menace expansion and additional exclusive content. The title looks amazing on both screens and controls smoothly via the GamePad. Obviously the touchscreen interface isn’t as effortless as we may have come to expect on multi-touch interfaces, but given that it’s primarily used for character selection and special moves – the buttons handle all other aspects – it never feels bothersome.

Speaking of the GamePad as a solid controller, Nano Assault Neo is a microscopic twin-stick shooter that combines the dizzying perspective of Super Mario Galaxy‘s smaller planetoids with a healthy dose of bullet hell combat. The distinctly organic look of the cells that serve as the game’s levels looks phenomenal, which contrasts nicely against the space-shooter feel of your firefights against encroaching organisms. At only $10 it hits a financial sweet spot, but the very nature of its gameplay (not to mention its sometimes ridiculous difficulty) may limit mass appeal.

Little Inferno also come across as a niche title, yet it’s one that continues to devour my free time. In a surreal snow-swept dystopia reminiscent of the work of Angus Oblong or Jhonen Vasquez, the player whiles away a near-solitary existence by, well, burning things. This weirdo non-game works in the same way that similar titles, like Doodle Devil, by rewarding experimentation – burning certain items together scores bonus points for themed combos – and always helping gamers eke out just enough money to buy that one more item to toss into the fireplace. Minimal but masterfully implemented music and sound effects help to flesh out this singular world, as does a constant stream of strange letters from a sociopathic neighbor and the makers of your Little Inferno Entertainment Fireplace themselves. Perfectly peculiar and wonderfully weird, but it’s still a hard sell at $15.

Cautious language and qualified recommendation aside, Mighty Switch Force! Hyper Drive Edition from WayForward Technologies is surely my pick for must-have downloadable. Those who have experienced the series’ handheld iteration already know of the fun to be had thanks to its deceptively deep cops-and-robbers gameplay, but even they shouldn’t be dissuaded from checking out this beautiful console representation. Capturing escaped convicts by running, jumping, shooting and, most importantly switching across the title’s 21 stages is a pleasure to experience, and it’s all thanks to that odd defining gameplay element. A simple button press toggles colored blocks on or off to suit your specific needs as you traverse these futuristic landscapes, but accidentally switch one on while standing in the wrong place and you’ll be brutally sandwiched against the screen. Of course this same trick works on enemies, so its cutesy brutality serves a purpose. MSF! looks, sounds and plays perfectly on your TV or the smaller GamePad, so it’s quickly become my personal go-to title. For gamers looking for a rewarding challenge in the eShop, it’s definitely ten dollars well spent.